I’ve always thought when the beachfront homes of the rich and famous fall into the sea we would see a Sea Change in how widely accepted the science of climate change becomes in the world view of modern humans.
My sister in law inherited half ownership of a beach house here on Whidbey Island, when both of her parents died of COVID-19 in early 2020. Thee years ago they replaced the concrete bulked on the edge of the sand. Now the level of the beach sand has risen about 16 inches since the bulkhead was replaced. Her parents built the beach house themselves back in the 1950s.
For years, scientists have warned about the dangerous consequences of climate change, and many dire outcomes are more urgent than most people realize. A new report shows sea-level rise will threaten homes and properties in hundreds of counties along the coast of the United States. As William Brangham reports, it could make many places unlivable and take an enormous economic toll.
By 2050, using modest or, I should say, intermediate climate models, we stand to lose about as many square miles as New Jersey currently occupies.
Living on an island you see the signs of seal level rise every time you go to the beach, while the tourists might look at the island’s beaches and think they look relatively normal. I live a half mile from the beach, with a large wetland between me and the water. How long before the houses along the beach on the spit between the wetland and the beach are inundated, and the large wetland transforms into a broad tide flat and my home briefly becomes the beach front?
I can see down the beach to where a large landslide destroyed a beachfront home and a couple of homes set back from the beach nine years ago, creating a temporary toe of land extending 60 yards into Admiralty Inlet.
Sea Level rise is already impacting coastal residents.